There’s off message and then there’s Mitt Romney’s son, Matt Romney, who suggested on Thursday that President Obama should release his birth certificate and grades before his father releases his tax returns.

“He’s certainly not afraid of anything, he’s not hiding anything,” he said of his father in a video recorded by a Patch reporter in New Hampshire. “But I heard someone suggest the other day that as soon as President Obama releases his grades and birth certificate and sort of a long list of things, that maybe he’d do that.”

After his brothers stepped in to distance the candidate from the remarks, Matt added that “that’s a suggestion from someone else.”

And then release your tax returns. For those who haven’t been following, the reason Mitt Romney is not going to release his tax returns is that he pays a lower tax rate than you do. This is despite him continuing to make millions from his work as a corporate raider…err…capital investment guy. The way he structured his golden parachute means that his income is “carried interest” and he pays a 15% top rate on it.